Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 13 May 1999

Vol. 504 No. 6

Written Answers. - Harbours and Piers.

John Perry

Question:

46 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the funds, if any, allocated for work on Pullaheney Harbour, Rathlee, County Sligo; the amount of funds granted; when the funds will be available; when the work will commence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12476/99]

Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources (Dr. Woods)

Pullaheeny Harbour is owned by Sligo County Council and maintenance and development of the facilities are, therefore, the responsibility of the local authority in the first instance.

Under the fishery harbour and small harbours development programmes for 1999, financial assistance is being provided for two projects in County Sligo and the position in relation to funding works at Pullaheeny will be kept under review in the context of my ongoing review of coastal infrastructure needs.

Ivor Callely

Question:

47 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the required investment for infrastructural development of harbours; the harbours identified; when the work will be carried out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12477/99]

Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources (Dr. Woods)

I am aware how vital ports are to the economy and to keeping trade moving efficiently and on time. Although investment in ports has greatly improved the capacity and quality of port facilities, the level of growth in Ireland's international trade and in port activity generally underlines the need for continued investment. Some 90 per cent of trade by volume and 84 per cent by value is transported through Ireland's ports each year.

In relation to the optimum development of commercial seaports, my Department has overseen the transformation of the Irish commercial seaports over the past ten years by a number of major investment programmes (the operational programme for peripherality 1989 to 1993 and the operational programme for transport 1994 to 1999, (OPT), the Cohesion Fund and the Ireland/ Wales Maritime INTERREG Programme, 1994 to 1999), linking of grant aid to the removal of major institutional bottlenecks in seaports; and the establishment of modem commercially motivated and organised semi-state bodies under the 1996 Harbours Act.

Over the ten year period from 1989 to 1999, the total investment in ports under all of the programmes listed above is estimated to be £220 million, of which some £163 million will have been expended under the current round of OPT, Cohesion and INTERREG initiatives.

The development and modernisation of the ports industry could not have been achieved without grant assistance under the above programmes. The scale of the various funding programmes reflected the low level of investment in the ports industry generally before the programmes were put in place.

Notwithstanding these past achievements, there still remain a number of important deficiencies to be addressed in the ports industry. Ports have inadequate facilities to cope with continued massive growth which is forecast in the unitised modes in particular. Competitive forces between ports need to be strengthened. Continued reductions in port costs will maximise competition between ports. Scope exists to increase port efficiency levels to maximise the use of existing infrastructure. Irish ports need to continue to reduce cost levels to the lowest levels achieved in the best ports internationally. There is scope for further rationalisation of the port sector through, for example, co-operation agreements between adjacent State ports to maximise services and cost efficiencies to port users.

To determine the needs of the port industry, my Department commissioned independent consultants to complete a detailed study on future seaport capacity requirements to 2007, funded under the OPT technical assistance measure. This study points clearly to the need for a third national port development programme as part of the next national development plan.

Based on the examination of the port industries' importance to the economy and of its development importance to needs over the period to 2007, it is clear that a substantial investment programme is required for ports. In preparation of the next national development plan for post 1999 Structural Fund allocations, my Department consulted fully with all the port companies and harbour authorities requesting that they identify proposals for investment priorities for the NDP.

Following a comprehensive consultation process involving all commercial seaports including regional seaports, port and maritime infrastructural development, projects have been identified and costed in the context of possible funding allocations under the next round of EU Structural Funding post 1999.